Beach Pro Tour

Cruz & Brasher, Ahman & Hellvig back to number one in World Rankings

Evandro & Arthur Lanci rise up to number three

Published 11:18, 18 Mar 2026

Spectacular dig by Kristen Cruz during the Joao Pessoa final

Both winners of last week’s Joao Pessoa Elite on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour – USA’s Kristen Cruz (formerly Nuss) & Taryn Brasher and Sweden’s David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig – climbed back up to number one in the world after the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Rankings received their weekly update following the first Elite event of the year.

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking – Women

Kristen Cruz & Taryn Brasher of the United States topped the women’s podium in Brazil on Sunday and earned 1,200 points for the World Ranking. With that, their previous eighth best result within the past year, the 460 points from the 2025 Ostrava Elite, was dropped from the accounts, so they net-gained 740 points towards a new total of 8,940, enough to surpass both Brazilian duos that were above them before that and climb from number three to number one. This is not the first time the American pair is on top of the chart. After the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship in November, where they took silver, they rose to number one and led the World Ranking for two weeks.

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Previous number one – Carol Solberg & Rebecca Cavalcanti – who did not compete in Joao Pessoa, fell to number two, 500 points below the new leaders, while Thamela Coradello & Victoria Lopes had a fifth-place finish, which did not affect their score of 8,240 points, so they descended to number three.

Another Brazilian team – reigning Olympic champions Ana Patricia Ramos & Eduarda Lisboa (Duda) – who finished runners-up in Joao Pessoa, pocketed 500 of the 1,100 ranking points that came with their silver, but stayed put in fifth place, now 220 points below the fourth-ranked reigning world champions Tina Graudina & Anastasija Samoilova of Latvia.

Next in the table, in sixth and seventh place, are two American duos that no longer exist as such – Terese Cannon & Megan Kraft and Molly Shaw & Kelly Cheng. The newly formed pairing of Megan Kraft & Kelly Cheng, who earned bronze in Joao Pessoa, picked up their first 1,000 points and stormed the World Ranking into position 143. The rest of the top 10 remained intact, with Germany’s Svenja Muller & Cinja Tillmann, Italy’s Valentina Gottardi & Reka Orsi Toth and Canada’s Melissa Humana-Paredes & Brandie Wilkerson lined up from eighth to 10^th.

FIVB Beach Volleyball World Ranking – Men

Similarly on the men’s side, reigning world and Olympic champions David Ahman & Jonatan Hellvig of Sweden surpassed previous World Ranking leaders Anders Mol & Christian Sorum of Sweden and reclaimed the number one spot in the chart for the first time in almost a year, since April 2025. It is overall the 44^th week the Swedish duo holds the top position. They net-gained 520 of the points they earned in Brazil towards a new total of 8,280 points, 220 clear of the Norwegians, who did not participate in Joao Pessoa.

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Brazil’s Evandro Oliveira & Arthur Mariano Lanci, who finished fourth last week, also climbed a spot up the World Ranking, to number three with 7,820 points, overtaking Jacob Holting Nilsson & Elmer Andersson, the other Swedish duo that shared the second place with their compatriots, finished ninth in Joao Pessoa and did not improve their ranking score of 7,760 points.

Meanwhile, Joao Pessoa silver medalists Remi Bassereau Daubas & Calvin Aye of France ascended from number 17 to number 11, just below the top 10, which remained unchanged from last week below fourth place.

The new American team of Taylor Crabb & Andrew Benesh brought home Joao Pessoa bronze and entered the World Ranking in position 153, with their first 1,000 points together.